Mr Butternut Squash

Completely forgot this was on last night! Doesn't look like I missed much.

I'm never gonna diss Ronda's run as a wrester. She was tremendous through most of her run. Delivered in every match and elevated the division to a point they've not touched since. (Tbf, WWE stopped caring as soon as she left).

Saying that, I'm convinced Ronda is avoiding the Becky match because she's still gotten to after the fan reaction from last time. It's funny, Becky vs Ronda was the one match WWE had left in their locker that I had any excitement about. Not anymore. This ludicrous, nonsensical, 'heel' Becky Lynch character has killed dead whatever interest I still had in this product. Only WWE would take their most naturally over babyface and turn them into a legitimate crowd killer. Just the thought of Becky doing more forced and detached "You People" promos - to a mixture of confused silence, frustration and apathy, all in desperate attempt to paint Ronda Rousey as the babyface - sounds completely insufferable. Ronda vs Charlotte is just "meh" in comparison.

I see Sasha went from potential winner and Mania headliner to being dumped like filler. I'm gonna make a bold prediction and say she'll be in AEW by the end of the year.

9 hours ago, Tsurutagun said:

 The Sonya Deville targeting black people plot line was the wet dream of GB News. 

 

Holy shit. So is the "Sonya might be a bit racist" thing being made cannon now?

It's a shame they didn't give Pat Mcafee a run in the Rumble. The dead men's division really seems like it needs an injection from somewhere.

Well I'm glad they didn't follow my shitty idea and have Moxley say nothing and get interrupted! What a man. Looked better than I've seen him in years. Him telling some idiot to shut the fuck up at the beginning, and neatly, gently, picking his jacket up at the end were the legit highlights of the show. Not to mention all he said in between. You could hear a fucking pin drop. These emotionally authentic moments continue to be what makes AEW the best. That heel turn is gonna have to hold off.

I was nice to see a few stars all in the in the same match for once. And Adam Cole. I'm not usually one to give a shit about what a wrestler looks like. But oof. He looks distractingly bad for someone in his spot. Is he alright? I did laugh at OC being described as someone on a winning streak. All I've seen this fucker do is lose, lose, lose, get punched in the bollocks, lose and lose. 'Lights Out' isn't enough to get me excited to watch him lose and get punched in the bollocks again.

Perfect bounce back for Punk. No need to fuck about. Him vs MJF, and handsome Wardlow's faces are the best thing going.

Cody getting an absolutely tepid reaction should set off alarm bells, but it won't. Ignoring his usual, tiresome meta bollocks, it's so refreshing to see a one on one ladder match for a change. Shame they insist on doing the 'Face of TNT' clusterfuck anyway.

Deeb accidently turning herself babyface by being a women's wrestler that can actually work is legend shit. Again, why isn't she TBS champion?

Class main event. Sting and Darby continue to be a smash hit team and deliver every time. I should probably stop feeling so nervous watching Sting. This was an ambitious match and he looked slightly gassed, but he always holds up his end. The Acclaimed are a riot and I hope Caster's arm is okay. More vids from them please, their deep cuts on Sting's past had me rolling.

Most enjoyable show in a while. Liked the focus on promos and shorter matches.

And only ONE interrupted promo!

Putting that TBS title on anyone not named Deeb was certainly a choice.

I always enjoy a mix tag. Looking forward to this even though I know it'll bring out all of Cole and Britt's worst instincts. 

Pissing with excitement for Moxley's return. I can't imagine him doing a "welcome back" style promo. See him getting his hands dirty right away. Danielson smugly walks out before he even gets to say a word. Bang! Paradigm Shift. He's outta there.

Be interesting to see how much time Punk/Spears gets. It's time to move on from the 'Punk is rusty' thing and start giving him some decisive wins.

Spears is fun in this role and has been good crack for a while. Better than Cody.

I wonder if these marathon tapings are contributing to a bit of burnout? I don't really understand the need for these 2hour+ Dark tapings anymore. I get that they want everyone's face on the card, but these constant squash matches can't be helping to actually develop talent.

Wouldn't it be better to do a few actual 'dark' matches before the Dynamite/Rampage tapings, and give guys like Wardlow the chance to work longer matches with experienced guys? Plus something like Wardlow vs Danielson for example would be appealing to ticket buyers.

They can't even be arsed with heels and babyfaces anymore. It's so weird. They seem happy just lazily mashing whoever together and having thunderdome.wav do the rest.

They probably think they've told some grand long-term story with Bianca Belair. She gets caught off guard and screwed over at Summerslam. Then Becky keeps dodging her knowing she can't win a fair fight. So Bianca earns her way back into contention via the Rumble/Chamber, before finally toppling her at Mania. Sounds fairly straight forward. In reality, they're knackered. There's nothing this lame and heatless Becky character can do for Bianca that Sasha Banks hadn't already done far more effectively, before they flushed it all away. A complete disaster all round.

I watched the Lashley/Lesnar video package which was a tremendous bit of business. They've still got it in 'em, somewhere.

Yeah, new gear is lush. Now just change that dreadful music and he's on his way.

Daniel Garcia stole the show this week. He's fantastic.

Match-wise I thought this was a decent show. I don't mind them calming things down and putting out a show of regular tv style matches. I said last week that their matches are usually too excessive and risky for TV wrestling, so I don't mind them pulling things back a bit.

But yeah, TK's booking tropes are getting very tedious now. They could really do with new voices/a refresh...

Also, they're doing their shows a major disservice with the shitty sound mixing and arena lighting. Look back at their 2019 shows. So much more bright and vibrant than their current drab looking set up.

It's a creative dilution to me. Some of the connective tissue in the storytelling is getting lost. Like Rooster said some of that is down to them not recapping things from Rampage. I don't know what happened with the Dante-Leo thing for example. 

There's definitely been an increase in backstage interview beatdowns too. My Petty Annoyance. Not every Rampage match should need an angle to set it up. The more they do, the more they water things down. It's gotten very contrived with them.

It's diluted Dynamite for sure. It's lost the focus it had in the summer.

How did the tapings work? I'm presuming there was a card for the live crowd too?

I'd like a six month moratorium on tables spots, interrupted promos, backstage beatdowns and the LIGHTS OUT!!! gimmick. Lay off the Charlie Tone.

For their first 'special' this feels very underwhelming. Tone is being a bit too stingy. How they got nothing better for Ricky Starks than Matt Sydal?

Ruby has the most annoying theme tune in wrestling.

Thought Page vs Danielson was excellent and had everything you want in a big title match. Marked out for Bryan's "stomping foot" headbutts. They look and sound so much better than the nasty shoot style ones. Only thing I thought was missing is the post-match handshake, which would further cement Page as the guy and move Bryan out of this heel role, which, while he's bloody great at it, really isn't doing his opponents any favours. 

Very annoying having to sit through Chris Jericho to get five seconds of Eddie Kingston. Where is this going? If Kingston vs Jericho is the play, hopefully someone has the balls to tell Chris he's the bloody heel in that one.

I'm glad Jade thought better of going to the top rope to hit her finish. Why would you even put that spot in the match? My blood froze watching that. Just like when Sting nearly slipped climbing the turnbuckle the other week. I mean, I'm sure Sting probably thinks it's 1988 and he can hit a cross body to the outside no problem. Does he need to though? There's a lot of big spots and risks being taken that seem unnecessary. The very same match had MJF inches away from ending his career/life. Starks and Archer fucked their necks not long beforehand. Not to mention the Hardy incident and the Dark Order guy lying unconscious while everyone wrestled around him. I dunno, man. It just feels like there's a lack of accountability in AEW when it comes to safety, and it puts me on edge. Like someone getting seriously fucked is an inevitability.

Urgh. That Jade spot rubbed me the wrong way.

That was all before I logged and found out Fenix had hurt himself too! In fairness, that was more a freak thing. Still, I'd love it if AEW could get through one episode without breaking a table.

Bianca Belair is obviously the 'plan'. 

What a fucking baby.

Crowd seemed like the liveliest in months. I'm gonna blame AEWs constantly piss poor soundboarding. 

The lack of reaction for Mercedes was still shocking though. 

Who is the new bald bloke in the Hardy faction?

9 minutes ago, gmoney said:

That's babyface Sammy. 

True. It doesn't help that Rampage has fallen off my radar so I never got to see him defend it. One good thing about Cody winning is they'll at least give him some major focus. All of their champions seemed to fall into the background after All Out.

Now fucking Dan Lambert is getting babyface pops!

The aimless Cody bollocks is indefensible at this point. Between that all time bad Brandi segment and the return of Chris "isn't the cunt on tour yet?" Jericho, it wasn't the best episode for the holiday spirit.

Decent show otherwise, but I can't help feeling the addition of Rampage has had a knock-on effect on Dynamites quality the last few months. I'd say it's a lack of focus more than lack of starpower.

Does Sammy have backstage heat or something? Looked like a complete dork after his loss.

WWE's "any reaction is a good reaction" has ruined people's brains.

Page/Danielson should be awesome but I'm really looking forward to MJF/Dante tonight too. Should be a cracker.

I'm shit scared Bray Wyatt is showing up to ruin everything.

Oh man, this bloody sucks.

Loved what I saw of his run on the southern indie scene a few years back

RIP.

Daniel Garcia 😍

The OP meant Cash Wheeler right?

The crowd booed when MJF's music initially hit and there were anti-MJF signs everywhere. It all just seemed odd to me. I mean, it was entertaining stuff and I'm just old man rambling, really. I just really didn't like Punk turning on the fans so hard and suddenly. 

The Danielson stuff is good and makes sense with what they were given too.

I guess, what I'm getting at is, I'm a stickler for strong, clear, face/heel divides, with wrestlers getting the most out their natural crowd reactions. Keeping them in that lane and fucking with it as little as possible. That makes a better, hotter wrestling show for me. And right now it feels like a bit too many people are not in their natural role and getting the most potential out of them - Cody, Cole, Danielson, Britt, Sammy etc.  Again, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. It's just that watching Punk shit on the sports team and MJF fake out a babyface save just added to the off-feeling.

I've never seen someone eat a dive the way Jamie Hayter does. What a nut!

Old man rant . . . I really didn't like the Punk/MJF stuff. Completely took me out of the show. As cute as the Bret in Canada dynamic is for MJF, there's no real history there. They were willing to boo MJF and they had to muscle the crowd into the opposite direction. It was so weird. Punk resorting to cheap local sports team heat felt so forced and phoney it just needed thunderdome.wav over it. And why the hell would you encourage MJF to get cheered ANYWHERE?

It all adds to the jarring feeling I have watching AEW at the moment. Between Danielson switching heel just because, Cody pretending he's still babyface, Adam Cole and Britt Baker constantly popping the crowd - there's too many big names that lack constitution, or are swimming against the tide. It kills genuine investment. I don't like feeling that nothing matters and everyone is having a laugh playing along to some ironic, meta-work with no actual drama.